Does anyone remember Swell?

i never did get round to digging it out.

I was mainly/ totally ignored. Maybe I should change my name or learn to write like a proper critic or something?

:)

I saw Swell at The Duchess of York in Leeds (RIP)around the time of 'Too Many Days....'
The singer (is that our man 'David'?) appeared to be a bit, erm,stoned and grinned like a dufus throughout the set. This kind of detracted from that beautiful mesh of sound.

I'm not a drummer but have great admiration for Swell rhythms and sounds (obviously the latter could be down to the recording process)

I still listen to these guys occasionally but haven't picked up anything new in years. Can anybody comment on Bastards and Rarities or on either of their two last proper releases?

'whenever you're ready' is pretty good, def. better than the previous three releases (feed, everyone wants to know, and beautiful people). it sounded a bit radar brothers-y. no idea what they're up to at the moment; i fully expect this band to vanish completely and then david puts out something new every few years.

Ex drummer and Swell cover designer Sean Kirkpatrick is trying to pay for shoulder surgery:

http://www.seankirkpatrick.com/kirk_images/cover.jpg

Is this the only thread for Swell?
Cheeesus Grist

Do they remain as stoners in their industrial/high tech practice place?

Fuck Even Flow

i saw them recently in paris in the maroquinerie and in weinheim. david plus two young guys. the drummer was hitting his kit hard and made a lot of shattering noise. the other one occasionally plucked his bass but mainly played around with the computer and created a kind of ethereal atmosphere. not really my cup of tea. swell has a new album out called south of the rain and snow which has some nice tunes. there will be another one soon. it will be titled be my weapon. actually radar bros. opened for them in weinheim, cf. upthread where akm compared the whenever you're ready to radar bros.

Oh man Swell. Just found a bunch of their albums for one dollar each! ...Well?, 41, and the S/T debut.

Too Many Days Without Thinking was their best though. One of my 90s favs.

i just ordered the "be my weapon" cd via the swellsongs site. the songs on the myspace page sound pretty good. a return to form?

Two tracks in on the myspace page - classic Freel. Thanks for the heads up, alex!

be my weapon is pretty good actually. it is quite amazing that after all the years he has still got such great music in him. the sound hasn't really changed but he is not repeating himself by no means. what a stupid name though.

Agreed. I can only find it for sale on his website - and no wax! Where'd you find your copy?

i ordered it from his website and it got shipped to germany after some time.

Uh, suspecterrain, I can't reply to your message without an email address.

swell

I like how a band member posted upthread and none of us said anything!

I remember them!

http://devonrecordclub.wordpress.com/2012/09/22/swell-well-round-35m-toms-selection/

Great band and criminally overlooked.

just getting into this band.

quite an original and fully formed sound for it's time. like Grunge via San Francisco

and THOSE DRUMS

Oh hey I missed this post.

I love this band- certainly had a distinct sound! Kinda fits nicely alongside 90s Giant Sand for me as far as the atmosphere it evokes.

Ah man, what sad news to wake up to. David Freel of Swell has passed.

https://m.facebook.com/#!/story.php?story_fbid=10158292404932540&id=17058642539&m_entstream_source=timeline&ref=bookmarks

RIP - great songwriter.

I'm going to dig out Too Many Days and buy 41

Oh shit... Wasn't he running pSycho-sPecific Records? All those repressings etc. I got the sense he was doing that all himself.

I don't have facebook, so I was only able to see a tribute post underneath a pop up demanding I log in.

Really sad about this!

Having a good time with 41, very different from Too Many Days and I'm intrigued by the people saying they were quite varied

he was doing the repressings himself. his family have said they are going to continue fulfilling orders if possible, btw.

2023 Euro tour, "A tribute to David Freel" with Sean Kirkpatrick, Monte Vallier, John Dettman-Lytle & Niko Wenner

https://swell41.com/

Wow can’t believe I missed Swell when they played Houston! When was that?

yeah I really wish they were doing an SF show, weird that they aren't frankly. I only got to see Swell (real Swell, with Freel) twice, good shows.

They played Houston sometime in 96. It would have been for Too Many Days Without Thinking.

Jealous of you guys. I emailed them and heard back from Sean*. He* said the European tour in April is likely the last time they'll play this music.

*The email was written as if by someone who clearly doesn't have perfect English. Sean is from America, right?

They have a lot of European ties. I know someone in the band or crew was Dutch because they translated my last name for me on the tour w/ mazzy star.

sean is def from the US so that must have been from someone involved in booking the tour